Kilgore College instructor Eddie Bernaldez was recently named as one of the top fire instructors in the nation by the website FireScience.org.

Bernaldez began working at KC in 1996 and has served as the Emergency Medical Technology program director and instructor at KC—Longview since 2000.

Firescience.org recently set out to find educators in fire science, fire responder care, and forestry who had been recognized for excellence in the classroom, on campus and in the community.

Bernaldez was selected partly because he has hundreds of successful former students who are now employed as EMTs and firefighters—mostly with Champion EMS and the Longview Fire Department—a testament to his dedication to comprehensive first responder training.

“Our goal with the top instructors project is to recognize some of the very best educators and mentors in fire science,” said Matt Davis, managing director of FireScience.org. “When our site visitors expressed deep interest in learning about the people who make our fire departments, academies and college programs tick, we were more than honored to oblige.”

The six regionally based top instructor lists include the following:13 Sensational Southeast Fire Science Instructors; 8 Top Fire Science Instructors in the Pacific Northwest; Top 10 Fire Science Instructors in the South; Top 14 Fire Science Instructors in the Midwest; Top 15 Fire Science Instructors in the Northeast; Top Fire Science Instructors; and the 15 Best in the West

This marks the first year FireScience.org has honored fire science instructors across the country. The website plans to make this recognition and annual event.

FireScience.org is a non-for-profit organization dedicated to creating free and valuable resources related to fire science, as well as to firefighter and first responder training. In addition to detailed articles about fire science and firefighting in U.S. cities and states, the site offers the most comprehensive and up-to-date tool for locating city, county, tribal, state, and federal fire departments, both career and volunteer: http://www.firescience.org/fire-departments.